Tesco has launched its 500th electric home delivery van as it looks to further its goals towards reaching net-zero across all of its operations by 2035.
According to the UK’s leading retailer, the van will go into service at the supermarket’s Sheffield Extra store, making it the store the first in Yorkshire to have a fully electric fleet. The store runs 14 home delivery vans, making 2,500 deliveries each week.
Since Tesco introduced its first electric vehicle (EV) home delivery van in 2020 in Greater London, the electric vehicles (powered by clean green energy) have replaced 15 million diesel delivery miles – roughly 7,500 tonnes of carbon emissions.
More than 30 Tesco stores and centres are now operating fully electric home delivery vans across the UK, helping improve air quality in urban areas and reducing emissions. Tesco’s fleet of 5,500 home delivery vans deliver to 150,000 customers across the UK every single day.
The supermarket also become the first retailer in the UK to launch a zero-emission electric lorry last year, with each vehicle replacing 30,000 diesel-fuelled road miles with clean green energy each year.
As part of its ambition to become carbon neutral in the UK by 2035, Tesco has committed to operating a fully electric home delivery fleet in the UK by the end of 2030 – equivalent to taking 22,000 cars off the road each year.
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Tesco CEO UK and ROI, Jason Tarry said: “The delivery of our 500th EV home delivery van to our Sheffield Extra store is an important landmark as we move towards a fully electric fleet across the UK by 2030.
“Making this change will reduce our carbon emissions as a business, improve the air quality for the communities we serve in Sheffield, and help us reach our commitment to be carbon neutral in our own operations by 2035.”
Decarbonisation Minister, Jesse Norman commented: “Electric vehicles are a key part of the UK’s move to a Green growth economy. It is great to see businesses like Tesco embrace this technology to help make supermarket deliveries more sustainable.”
He added: “For its part the Government has supported over 40,000 electric vans and HGVs across the UK through the Plug-in Van Grant, supporting businesses and individuals to decarbonise.”
Earlier this year, Tesco’s Kirkwall superstore in Scotland became the 600th store in the UK to have EV charging points installed.
